Ticket issuing machine



3 Sheets-Sheet l H. D. BLACK ET AL TICKET ISSUING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1933 March 31, 1936.

MLS

March 31,A 1936. H. D. BLACK ET-AL TICKET ISSUING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 31, H D BLACK ET AL TICKET ISSUING MACHINE Filed Sept. 29, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Patented Mar. 31, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE topher Frederick Webb, Middlesex, assignors to Bell Punch Company London, England England, Limited,

Application September 29, 1933, Serial No. 691,560 In Great Britain October 3, 1932 Claims. (CI. 271-2.4)

This invention is for improvements in or relating to ticket issuing machines of the type arranged to issue either a single ticket or a length ot two or more unsevered tickets and in which for this purpose a strip or web is fed from a supply roll thereof to a severing device by way of a rotary feed member engaging the strip (which term will hereinafter, if the text permit, include a web in the sense in which this expression is understood in the art), for example by spaced pins projecting from the periphery of the feed member and co-operating with spaced perforations in the strip, and operatively associated with a plurality of keys allocated respectively to the several ticket lengths to be issued in the machine and combined with selector mechanism operative lto determine the extent of ticket feed movement of the rotary feed member in accordance with the ticket length to be issued, the said keys moreover being operatively connected to means for throwing the rotary feed member into and out of operative connection with driving means for the member so that upon depression oi any one of the keys the feed member becomes thrown into operative connection with said driving means,I

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved construction of ticket issuing machine of this type which shall be marked by enhanced compactness oi' parts coupled with a high order of efficiency of operation.

Accordinghto the present invention, a ticket issuing machine of the type referred to is provided, wherein the rotary feed member for the strip is driven through a rotary pin and slot drive, the pin wheel of which is operatively associated with means for limiting the extent of rotation of the pin wheel in proportion to the number of tickets to be issued during the current cycle of ticket feed movement of the feed member, which means are brought into operation by depression of any one of the keys, and the slot wheel of the rotary pin and slot drive constitutes the rotary feed member for th'e strip.

Hitherto, in machines wherein the rotary feed member for the strip has been driven through the intermediary of a rotary -pin and slot drive, for example a Maltese Vcross mechanism, the rotary feed member has usually been a separate entity from the drive. By combining it with the drive as herein, considerable space is saved and the arrangement makes for general compactness of parts.

According to a feature of the invention, the rotary Din and slot drive of the improved machine may take the form of a Maltese cross mechanism having the pin and the slotted portion of the slofI wheel displaced axially from the plane in which the locating disc of the pin wheel and the member engaging it of the slot wheel are located whereby a larger radial dimension o1' the said slotted portion of the slot wheel is rendered possible as compared with the conventional form of mechanism wherein the pin and locating disc of the pin wheel are both disposed in the same plane with the slotted portion of the slot wheel. In this connection, it may be remarked that in the conventional form of Maltese cross mechanism, the pin' oi' the pin wheel isdisposed in a cut-away portion of a disc forming part of the wheel and constituting the locating means for the slot wheel. In consequence, certain restrictions are imposed upon the permissible relative size of the parts. If the overall dimensions of these are to be maintained reasonably small, the slots in the slot wheel have of necessity to be narrow and the pin of the pin wheel correspondingly small, the slots being located between adjacent concave peripheral portions of the slot wheel which co-act with the periphery of said locating disc of the pin wheel to lock the slot wheel in the position to which it has been rotated at each step oi the pin Wheel. This limitation upon the dimensions of the parts of the mechanism is disadvantageous, in that the wear of the said parts becomes comparatively rapid owing to the l smallness of their dimensions and any proportionate increase in the size of the parts to avoid this rapid wear tends to increase the overall size of the machine to an undesirable degree. By employing, however, the relative dispositionof parts set forth above in accordance with said further feature of the present invention, it is possible to increase the size of the pin of the pin Wheel and the slotted portion of the slot wheel to any desired extent without correspondingly increasing the size of the locating disc oi.' the pin wheel or of the member of the slot wheel which engages this disc, that is to say the member which is formed at the periphery with concave locating surfaces to interlock with the circular periphery of the locating disc. f

According to another feature of the invention, the aforesaid means operatively associated with the pin wheel of the rotary pin and slot mechanism of the improved machine may comprise a pawl constituting an element in the operative connection between the keys and the means for throwing the feed member into and out ci' operative connection with its driving means, displaceable with depression of any one of the keys from a retracted position to an advanced position and displaceable also towards the close of the cycle of ticket feed movement of the feed member from a normal inoperative position clear of the path of a dog on the pin wheel to an operative position in said path, the dog, upon being thus intercepted by the pawl, operating during further movement of the pin Wheel with continued engagement of the pawl, to return the latter to its retracted position and, with the pawl, the means for throwing the feed member into and out of operative connection with its driving means to the out-of-connection position, means being also provided for automatically returning the pawl to its said normal position at vparallel to the axis of the shaft l.

or towards the end of the movement of the pawl to its retracted position.

In an arrangement of this description, the return of the pawl to its retracted position may conveniently occasion' the return of the selector mechanism to its initial condition in readiness for the next cycle of actuation of the machine.

Moreover, .the said pawl may be operatively connected to a guillotine for severing the fed strip in such a manner that during the return of the pawl to its retracted' position, the guillotine is actuated.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is an axial View of the rotary feed member for the strip of a machine in accordance with the present invention, the rotary pin and slot drive for the said feed member being of the particular construction hereinbefore referred to and the feed member being constituted by the slot wheel of the said drive;

Figure 2 is a corresponding side elevation to Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of one of (it may be) several similar units of a ticket issuing :machine in accordance with this invention, the unit being one adapted to issue either one, two or three tickets at a time;

Figure 4 is a corresponding plan view to Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a corresponding end View, looking in the direction of the arrow in Figure, and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section through Figures 3 and 4 taken on the section lines t-i of those figures. Y

Like reference characters indicate like part in the various figures. l

Referring rst to Figures 1 and 2, the mechanism shown in these gures comprises two shafts I, 2 disposed parallel to one another. Upon the shaft l is a radial arm 3, upon the end of which is mounted a rollered pin il, the axis of which is The rollerecl pin l constitutes the pin of the Maltese cross mechanism, and works in radial slots 5 in a slotted disc 6 fast upon shaft 2 and through the intermediary of this shaft with a second disc 'i formed at its periphery with concave recesses 8 concentric as to their curvature with a circular disc 9 fast on shaft l and disposed with said disc i in a plane axially displaced from the general plane of disc ii.

As previously stated, the rollered pin Il constitutes the pin of the Maltese cross mechanism. 'Ihe two discs 6, l constitute together the slot Wheel andthe disc 9 constitutes the locating disc of the mechanism, said disc 9 and the radial.

epesses arm s and pin d constituting together the pin wheel.

The said disc K5 also constitutes, according to one of the above features of the present invention, the rotary feed member for ticket crining strip of the machine, and to this end is provided upon its periphery with a series of spaced pins l@ which extend through engage corre--r spondingly spaced perforations ii in the strip, the latter being drawn on to, carried round and fed oi from the periphery of the to the severing device of the machine at each stage or cycle of rotation of the disc (i.

Referring now to the other rigores of the drawings, the unit generally comprises a rectangrdar framework consisting of two side plates ii, i2, an end plate i3, located at the front of the inachine, and a top plate lli. Theremay be several of these units, accommodated side by side in a common casing and allocated to the issue of diierent classes of tickets or different multiples of issue of tickets.

Mounted within the said framework is the following mechanism, which will of course ce repeated in the other units of the machine.

This mechanism comprises means for feeding to an automatic guillotine, in single ticket lengths or multiple ticket lengths, at each cycle of op-J eration, a continuous ticket forming strip it drawn from a supply reel thereof (not shown), means for actuating the said guillotine intime with the feed of the strip and means for selectively controlling the durationof feed of the ticket strip per cycle of feed according to Whether one severed ticket only is to be issued at each cycle or a series of tickets unsevered from one another and delivered in the form of a continuous strip.

The said feeding mechanism for the ticket forming strip and the automatic guillotine are both actuated by a small electric motor (not shown) The circuit of this motor is closed upon depression of any one of the three keys i5, il,

i8 of the machine, a suitable switch (not shown) being provided for this purpose.

The ticket strip feed mechanism comprises a slotted disc i9, fast on a shaft 2i? and formed with six radial slots 2 l, as shown more clearly in Figure 3. These slots are spaced at equal angular intervals apart and they co-operatewith three rollered pins 22 mounted upon the face of a toothed wheel 23 fast upon a second shaft 2t parallel with the shaft 2i).

There are three of such rollered pins 22, and, as shown, they are spaced at equal angular intervals apart around the axis of shaft 263. As said shaft 255 and consequently toothed wheel 23 rotate, the pins 22 move around the axis of shaft 2d and in doing so, reciprocate along the slots 2i of wheel i9, revolving wheel i9 and shaft 2t in consequence. Said pins 22, wheel 23, slots 2i and wheel i9 constitute together, therefore, a form of Geneva drive mechanism.

Upon the periphery of slotted disc are an equally spaced series of short pegs 25 which are arranged to extend through and engage with correspondingly spaced perfor-ations iii provided to receive the pegs in the ticket forming strip l5. The said strip l5 is drawn by the pegs 25 over a curved guide plate 27, substantially co-incident, around the 'curved portion, with the periphery of the disc i9, the latter being accommodated in a slot in the guide plate extending along the centre thereof. y

The str-ip, after leaving the pegs 2e on the slotted disc I3, is delivered, still in position upon the guide plate 21, to the gate 23 of a guillotine consisting of a knife 23 reciprocable upon supporting guides therefor 33. This knife is reciprocated in time with the angular movements of the slotted disc I9, which, as will be appreciated, constitutes the rotary feed member for the ticket forming strip as Well as the slot wheel of the Geneva drive mechanism therefor.

The drive train from the electric motor hereinbefore referred to, to the feed disc I3, comprises a shaft 3|, a pinion 32 fast thereon, a second pinion 33 in mesh with pinion 32 and mounted upon the upper end of one arm of a bell crank lever 34 pivoted in the unit at 35, the toothed wheel 23,*

pins 22 and slots 2|, the in the lowered full-line position shown in Figure 3 and the pinion 33 in the out-of-mesh position relatively to the teeth of the wheel 23.

Whenever any of the three keys I6, I`1, I3 is depressed the bell crank lever 34 becomes automatically angulated about its pivot 35 in the clockwise (in Figure 3) direction to the brokenline position shown, and the rotating wheel 33 is in consequence brought into mesh with the teeth of the wheel 23, imparting rotation thereto by the drive from the motor to occasion ln turn rotation of the feed disc I3 and feed of the strip thereby to the gate of the guillotine.

'I'he operative connection to this end, between the .keys I3, I1, I8 and the bell crank lever 34, comprises a stirrup 33 pivoted upon the axis of pivoting of the keys and spring-controlled by a spring 33a (Figure 6)towards the normal position shown in full lines in Figure 3. This stirrup has at one side a depending extension arm 31, projecting laterally from which is a pin 33. This pin projects through an aperture 33 provided to accommodate it in the side plate I2 of the unit framework and abuts at the end a shoulder 43 at the right hand end of a sloping push bar 4I located adjacent the face of the side plate I2 exteriorly of the unit. The push bar 4| is reciprocable in the direction of its length and is arranged to be forced forwardly (to the left in Figure 3) by the depression of any one of the keys-I3, I1, I8, the manual thrust being transmitted to the bar from the keys through the intermediary of the stirrup 36 (which is common to all three of the keys and is depressed to the chain-line position shown whenever any one of the keys is depressed) ann 31, pin 38 and shoulder 43. The stroke of the bar is the same irrespective of which key is depressed.

'I'he push bar 4I is pivotally connected at its lever 34 being normally left hand end to the tail 42 of a pawl 43 pivoted intermediate its ends at 44 upon the upper end of a double-armed lever 45 pivoted at 46 upon shaft 24 aforesaid. Consequently, when the bar 4| is reciprocated it operates to angulate the lever 45 about shaft 24. When the bar is moved forwardly, that is to say to the left, it moves lever 45 anti-clockwise, and vice versa. Such anti-clockwise movement of the lever 45 causes the lower end 41 of the lever, by abutting the upstanding arm, to angulate the bell crank lever 34 in the clockwise direction, which, as previously intimated, occasions the bringing into mesh of pinion 33 with toothed wheel 23 and consequently the establishing of drive connection as between the feed disc I9 and the electric motor 0f the unit.

through the intermediary passage therethrough of the strip as it is fed from the guide plate 21. To this end, said knife 23 is connected by a pin 48 toa horizontal stirrup portion 49 of the lever 45, this lever being formed in one piece, as shown more clearly in Figure 5, of two side portions, both pivoted upon the shaft 24, and the stirrup portion 49 referred to. With this arrangement, as will be appreciated, the necessary thrust to retract the guillotine knife to its gate-open position is imparted manually by the depression of the keys I 6, I1, i 3, the thrust being transmitted from the keys through the medium of the push bar 4I, tail 42 of pawl 43, pawl pivot 44 and pin 43.

As previously described, upon depression of any one of the three keys I8, I1, I8, the motor is brought into operation and through the medium of the drive trains interconnecting the motor with the feed disc I9, the latter is rotated to feed the ticket strip I5 through the gate of the guillotine, this gate having previously been opened, that is to say, during the forward stroke of the push bar 4| and therefore during the depression of the operated key.

The motor, once started, continues to operate and the strip continues to be fed through the gate of the gulliotine, until disconnection is effected as between pinion 33 and toothed wheel 23, that is to say, until bell crank lever 34 is reangulated back to its normal full-line position. At this moment, a switch (not shown) in the motor circuit is actuated to break the circuit and stop the motor.

From the description so far given, it will be clear that the angulation of the bell crank lever 34 from its normal full-line position to its operative chain-line position, is effected by manual thrust transmitted, in the depression of the operated key I3, I1 or I8, through the intermediary of push bar 4I, pawl 43 and lever 45. The return angulation of the bell crank lever to the full- 'line position, that is to say upon completion of a cycle of feed movement of the slotted disc I3, is eiected automatically by a tension spring 5.3 tending always to move the bell crank lever in the anti-clockwise direction.

Said spring 53 operates thus to return bell crank lever 34 to its normal position, whenever the said lever is released by the return (clockwise) movement of lever 45, that is to say whenever the tail 41 of said lever 45 recedes (to the left) from the upstanding arm of the bell crank lever.

Said clockwise movement of lever 45 and consequent recess'ion oftail 41 is effected mechanically by thrust exercised from the electric motor of shaft 3|, pinion 32, pinion 33, toothed wheel 23 and one of a series of three face teeth or dogs 5| projecting laterally from the face of wheel 23, this face tooth, in the rotation of said wheel 23, coming into abutment Jwith the nose of pawl 43, which latter has just previously been moved, by means hereinafter described, into the path of the tooth 5|.

The said angulation` of the pawl takes place towards the end of the cycle of strip feed of the slotted disc i9 and the timing of the parts is such that at this moment,- the face tooth 5I is just approaching the nose of the pawl. Upon actually reaching said nose it abuts it and through the intermediary of the pawl carries the lever 45 round with it in the clockwise direction, with consequent release of the bell crank `lever 34 as previously described, break of drive connection as between wheel 23 and the electric motor, return oi push bar li to its normal or initiai position and operation of the guillotine, the knife of the latter being moved sharply to the right across the gate 28 to sever the length of ticket strip now protruding therethrough.

In order to assist the movement of the parts during the depression of the actuating keys it,"

i?, i8, the lever d5 is spring controlled to the left by a tension spring 52 operating, as will be appreciated, in opposition to the previously mentioned tension spring 513.

The angulation of the nose of the pawl 33 into the path oi the face tooth 5i as above described is also effected by mechanical thrust derived from the torque of the electric motor. This will be clear from what follows.

Mounted upon. stationary pivots 5d is a second stirrup 55 having an arm 5E extending beyond the axis of the pivots Ell to the left in Figure 3. This arm has a ringer itl' at the extremity which is positioned as shown in the path of a series of radial stop faces 58, 59, 6G formed upon the periphery of a rotary block 6I fast with a pinion S revoluble upon a pin 63 projecting into the unit through an aperture Sli in the side plate I2, from the inner face of push bar M.

When bar di is moved forward (to the left in Figure 3). it carries pinion E2 into mesh with the teeth of a wheel 65, which teeth are in turn and always in mesh with a pinion 66 fast upon shaft 26. Consequently, all the time ticket strip is being fed through the gate of the guillotine, pinion 62 and block 6I are being rotated anti-clock- Wise and this rotation continues until one or other of the stop faces 58, 59, or 6@ abuts the finger 5l on stirrup 55. As soon as this abutment occurs, the block is prevented from rotating further and pinion t2 and wheel 65 become locked against further rotation about their own axes. The baril, however, is free to angulate about a fulcrum pin Si projecting beneath it from the framework plate i2 and as the pinion tit and block 6i are mounted upon the bar, the latter, upon the locking together of pinion 62 and wheel 65 in the manner stated, yields to the thrust imparted from the motor through the gear train, including at the end of the wheel 6% and pinion 62, and moves downwardly (clockwise) about fulcrum pin Si and in doing so angu lates pawl 43 anticlockwise into the path at the nose of the oncoming face tooth 58.

During the resulting return of the lever @E to its norm'al position (that is to say in the further and concluding movement of wheel 23 and face tooth 5 i) the pawl 63 becomes re-angulated back toits normal position cler of thepath of th'e face tooth by the cam action of a roller Sii operating upon the sloping back of the tail 62 ci' the pawl.

lTi'he pinion Sii is spring controlled by a spring 62o (Figure 4) to return automatically to its initial or starting position, upon the pinion being pushed out of mesh with the wheel @E by the return of the bar di to its normal position.

The return, therefore, of all of the moving parte oi? the machine to their initial er starting positioneis entireiy automatic.

The machine operates as above described, which ever key is depressed, and the selection action in respect of the number of tickets issued at each cycle of the feed mechanism is obtained in the machine by the variation provided for in the height of lift-- imparted to the finger El of stirrup 55 upon depression of the operated key.

There are three positions of lift for the finger;

accuses the full-line position, the dotted-line position and the chain-line position.

In the full-line position, which is the position occupied by the nger when key i6 is the operated key, the finger is located in the path of the iirst (53) of the three stop faces on the block 6i so as to be in a position to abut this stop face in the rotation of the block. In the intermediate or dotted-line position, the finger 5i is located in the path of the second stop facets and in the chain-line position it is located in the path of the stop face to.

According to which of these three positions, therefore, the strip is brought by the depression of the operatedkey, so is determined the length of the feed cycle of the slotted disc i9 and therefore the length of ticket strip delivered through the guillotine gate, and the various parts of the mechanism are so proportioned that the peripheral travel of the disc I9 is equal to the length of one ticket only when key i6 isdepressed, to the length of two tickets when key i1 is depressed and to the length of three tickets when key i8 is the operated key.

The selective positioning of the stirrup 55 in the manner referred to is effected automatically by the depression of the keys. To this end, the keys are located, as shown, immediately above the 'back of the stirrup and the latter is notched (as appears clearly in Figure 6) with a series of stepped notches 55a situated one beneath key IB, and another beneath key Il, the depth of these notches being such, in relation to the proportions of the various parts, that upon depression of key l'` the stirrup is angulated from the normal full-line position tothe intermediate or dottedline position and upon depression of key i8 the stirrup is angulated to the chain-line position. Upon depression of key I6, the stirrup is not angulated at all, its finger 5l being, in this position of the stirrup, already located in the path of the rst (58) of the three stop faces.

It will be apparent to engineers skilled in the art that .although the foregoing specific embodiment of the invention possesses a number of important advantages and merits, the scope of the invention is by no means limited to the said embodiment, either as regards general arrangement of parts or in respect of details of design or construction of individual elements.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type speciied, the combination of operating keys, s, rotary feed member-for the strip, a rotary pin-and-slot drive mechanism for said feed member comprising a driven pin member having rotational engagement with a radially slotted wheel, the periphery of which constitutes the feed member, and means operativelyassociated with the pin member of the drive mechanism and broughtinto operation by depression of any one of the keys, for limiting the extent of rotation of said pin member in proportion to the number of tickets to be issued.

B. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specified, the combination set forth in claim 1,.in a form wherein the drive mechanism-isa Maltese cross mechanism comprising a driven pin member having rotational engagement with a radially slotted Wheel and carrying a lo eating disc peripherally engaged with a oo-operating disc on the slotted wheel, the said mechanism having the pin of the pin member and the slotted portion of the slotted wheel disposed in a plane displaced axially from the plane in which the locating disc of the pin member and said cooperating disc are located.

3. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specified, the combination set forth in claim l, in a form wherein there are power means for driving the pin member and means operatively connected to the keys for throwing said power means into and out of operative ensagement with the pin member and the said means operatively associated with the pin member comprises a dog on said member, a pawl constituting an element in the operative connection between the keys and said means for throwlng the power means into and out of operative engagement with the pin member and displaceable upon depression of any one of the keys from a normal retracted position to an advanced position in which it is clear of the path of the dog and means operable towards the close of the cycle of movement of the feed member to displacethe advanced pawl to a further position in which it is in said path, said operative connection being such that the dog upon being thus intercepted by the pawl automatically returns the latter to retracted position and thereby occasions discontinuance of drive to the pin member.

4. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine or the type' specified, the combination set forth in claim l in a form wherein there are power means for driving the pin member and means operatively connected to the keys for throwing said power means into and out of operative engagement with the pin member and the said means operatively associated with the pin member comprises a dog on said member, a pawl constituting an element in the operative connection between the keys and said means for throwing the power means into and out of operative engagement with the 'pin member and displaceable upon depression of any one of the keys from a normal retracted position to an advanced position in which it is clear of the Vpath of the dog and means operable towards the close of the cycle of movement of the feed member to displace the advanced pawl to a further position in which it ls in said path, said operative connection being such that the dog upon being thus intercepted by the pawl automatically returns the latter to retracted position and thereby occasions discontinuance of drive to the pin member and at the same time the return of the operated key to normal position.

5. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specied, the combination of a motor driven power wheel, operating keys, a rotary feed member for the strip, a rotary pinand-slot drive mechanism for said feed member comprising a pin member rotationally engaged with a radially slotted wheel, the periphery of which constitutes said feed member, means operatively connected to the keys for throwing the pin member of the drive mechanism into and out of engagement with the power wheel, and keyactuated means for selectively limiting the extent of rotation of the pin member, the said means including a dog on the pin member, a pawl in the operative connection between the keys and the means for throwing the pin member into and out of engagement with the power wheel, said operative connection being such that the pawl upon depression of a key becomes displacedfrom a normal retracted position to an advanced position in which it is clear of the path of the dog and means whereby towards the close of cycle of movement of the feed member the pawl becomes moved from the advanced position to a further position in which it is in said path, thereby intercepting the dog and causing the latter to return the pawl to retracted position and occasion discontinuance of drive to the pin member and ative condition during depression of the oper-- ated key and arranged, according to which of the keys is operated, to terminate the rotation of the toothed member at one or other of a. series of limiting positions and thereby lock the said member and the toothed wheel together against further relative rotation, the said toothed member being mounted upon a part which, besides being movable in a manner to bring the toothed member into and out of mesh with the toothed wheel, is movable also in a manner to afford to the member and toothed wheel when locked together limited freedom of displacement together substantially around the axis of the toothed wheel during further rotation thereof, and is so operatively connected to the pawl as to move the latter into the path of the dog on the pin member during said displacement of the locked member and toothed wheel and, 'upon return of the pawl to retracted position, to be displaced thereby to return the toothed member to normal position clear of the toothed wheel.

'7. In a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specied, the' combination of operating keys, a rotary feed member for the strip, a rotary pin-and-slot drive mechanism for the feed member comprising a driven pin member having rotational engagement with a radially slotted wheel, the periphery of which itself constitutes the feed member, power means for driving the pin member of the drive mechanism, a dog on the pin member, a pawl normally in a retracted position out of the path of the dog, clutch means for throwing the pin member into and out of engagement with said power means, an operative connection between the keys on the one hand and said pawl and said clutch means on the other whereby upon depression of the operated key the pawl is moved to an advanced position but still out of the path of the dog and the clutch means is operated to engage the pin member with the power means, key-actuated selector mechanism to determine the extent of rotation of the feed member in accordance with the number of tickets to be issued and means operatively associated with said selector mechanism whereby, upon completion ofthe determined extent of rotation of the feed member, the pawl is moved into the path of the dog on the pin member so as to be engaged thereby and returned during the urther movement of the pin member to normal position with simultaneous return of the clutch means 'to disengaged condition.

5i. lo. a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type speciiied, the combination of operating keys, e. rotary feed member for the for the feed member comprising a driven pin aosaeas wheel carrying4 a plurality of pins and in uninterrupted rotational engagement through one at least of the pins with a radially slotted wheel, the periphery of which itself constitutes the feed member, power means for driving the pin wheel of the drive mechanism, a dog on the pin wheel,

a pawl normally in a retracted position out of the path of the dog, clutch means for throwing the pin wheel into and out of engagement with said power means, an operative connection between the keys on the one hand and said pawl and said clutch means on the other whereby, upon depression of the operated key, the pawl is moved to an advanced position but still out of the path of the dog and the clutch means is operated to engage lthe pin wheel with the power means, key-f actuated selector mechanism to determine the extent of rotation oi the feed member in accordance with the number of tickets to be issued and means operatively associated with said selector mechanism whereby, upon completion of the determined extent of rotation of the feed member, the pawl is moved into the path of the dog on the pin wheel so as to be engaged thereby and returned during the further movement of the pin wheel to normal position with simultaneous return of the clutch means to disengaged condition.

9. Iny a key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specified, the combination set forth in claim 7, in a form wherein the key-actuated selector mechanism comprises a rotatable toothed member, a toothed wheel rotatable with the slotted wheel of the drive mechanism, said toothed member being normally out of mesh with the wheel and moved into mesh therewith upon depression of the operated key, a series of stops movable with the toothed member, allocated respectively to the several keys and of diierent eiective position in accordance with the number of tickets to be issued upon depression of the operated key, an abutment brought into the path of the stops upon depression of the operated key, the toothed member being thereby rotatable through an angle which is proportional to the number of tickets to be issued in the current cycle or the machine and thereafter locked with the toothed wheel against further relative rotation therewith, which toothed member is mounted upon a part which has limited freedom of displacement in a direction approximately tan= gential to the toothed wheel at the point of mesh thereof with the toothed member and is articu-a lated to the pawl so as to move the latter into the path of the dog on the pin member upon interlocking occurring of the toothed wheel with the toothed member with consequent displacement of the said part articulated to the pawl.

10. In a 'key operable strip ticket issuing machine of the type specied, the combination claimed in claim 8, in a form wherein the keyactuated selector mechanism comprises a rotatable toothed member, a toothed wheel rotatable with the slotted wheel oi the drive mechanism, said toothed member being normally out of mesh with the wheel and moved into mesh therewith upon depression of the operated key, a series of stops movable with the toothed member, allocated respectively to the several keys and of dierent eiective position in accordance with the number of tickets to be issued upon depression of. the operated key, an abutment brought into the path of the stops upon depression of the operated key, the toothed member being thereby rotatable through an angle which is proportional to the number of tickets to be issued in the current cycle of the. machine and HORACE pautas/rotin' BLACK. crmrsrorrnsn FaEDnRrcK wenn. 

